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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 0184.PDF
u/W ROBOT WARS There are major technical challenges, but transformational technology backed by substantial US funding is bringing the day of the unmanned fighter aircraft ever closer PAUL LEWIS / WASHINGTON DC The recent destruction of a car carrying al-Qaeda operatives on a remote desert road in Yemen by a missile-armed Predator, operating hundreds of kilometres from friendly territo ry, has given the world a sneak preview of the potential of armed UAVs. With a new genera tion of purpose-built UCAVs now on the draw ing board, there is the promise of an even bigger leap in capability - indeed, some mili tary observers are predicting the demise of the manned fighter. With testing of the first UCAV demonstrator very much in the early stages, however, the world is still a long way from realising the full potential of robotic weapons. The US military, emboldened by talk of transformational tech nology, is pouring increasingly larger amounts of money into a series of demonstration efforts once regarded as little more than science pro jects conducted in obscure laboratories. The US Department of Defense (DoD), in return, is demanding better oversight and co-ordination to ensure these endeavours remain grounded in operational reality. The Office of the Secretary of Defense is pushing for the establishment of a joint pro gramme office to take charge, and ultimately fuse, the different UCAV demonstration and development efforts. There are three separate technology demonstrations being pursued by the US Army, US Air Force and US Navy, and although the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is participating in each, they are in different phases of develop ment, and very much tailored to meet the individual needs of each service. The Boeing/DARPA/USAF X-45 UCAV pro gramme is the longest running of three dem onstrations, having been launched in 1998, and is the closest to reaching fruition with its goal of fielding a UCAV operational system (UOS) in 2008. There are two X-45A Spiral 0 demonstrators already flying, and Boeing was recently awarded a $460 million follow-on contract to further mature the system and pro duce two larger X-45B Spiral 1 vehicles. They will closely resemble the planned A-45 Spiral 2 UOS, and act as transition from demonstra tion to acquisition. "We want to complete the effort by 2005 and The USAF hopes to have a small number of A-45 UCAVs operational by 2008. But its long-term plans for an unmanned strike platform remain uncertain deliver by 2008," says Col Earl Wyatt, DARPA UCAV programme manager. "To do that, we want to minimise the amount of redesign between the X-45B and A-45.1 would say that by that time we'll have a limited operational capability, but typically the warfighter desig nates what is meant by initial operational capa bility. We are going to give them something that has operational utility, but something they can also be learning with." Trailing X-45 Trailing the X-45 programme by almost three years is the DARPA/US Office of Naval Research (ONR) UCAV-N science and technol ogy programme. Around $30 million has been spent to date on a Phase 1 study and the Phase 2A preliminary design of two competing sys tems by Boeing and Northrop Grumman. It had originally been planned to downselect one for a follow-on $100 million flight dem onstration in 2005-06. The USN wants to beg in full-scale development of an operational system around 2007, with the goal of deliver ing the system to the fleet by 2015. Phase 2B has been stalled for almost a year, however, over navy concerns that choosing between the Boeing X-46 and Northrop Grumman X-47B demonstrator at this stage could compromise the industry's ability to bid competitively for the follow-on system dem onstration and development (SDD) contract. 2 28 JANUARY-3 FEBRUARY 2003 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL SUPPLEMENT www.fliqhtinternational.com
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